


Compromise

by rhodrymavelyne



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:41:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25288492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhodrymavelyne/pseuds/rhodrymavelyne
Summary: A relationship is based on compromise or perhaps reciprocity in this situation?
Relationships: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Kudos: 11





	Compromise

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place after the end of the TV series. As for Clarice, how she plays into this scene, she may be watching it, visualizing it, a mystery to Will along with the reader, but like many a Fannibal and a Hannigram fan, getting drawn into Will and Hannibal’s bond, their intimacy, in spite of her better judgment as an F.B.I. agent. I don’t own Hannibal, but sometimes it owns me.

“You’re so fragile,” he whispered into my hair. “A delicate vessel of innocence and compassion for the passion and power you contain. I have to be so careful with you, but I’m curious. How much can you contain?”

“Are you curious how much you can contain?” I reached up to touch his back, to feel the muscle playing behind silk and skin. “You gotten me to take a life with you, to experience the beauty of that crime. Don’t you see what I can offer you?”

“What are you up to, Will?” He cupped my cheeks, holding my face in his hands. “Just what are you offering?” 

“What drove me to become an F.B.I. agent in spite of my madness. What you felt for a moment in the ambulance when you saved a man’s life.” I let my lips caress his fingers.

“I see.” He smiled lovingly, yet there was a trace of mockery in his mouth. “You want me to help save a life, to see the beauty and value in such an action. You still hope to redeem me and perhaps yourself.”

“There is no redemption.” I met his eyes, letting myself fall into them, not holding anything back. “Perhaps there can be balance. A balance we can live with.”  


“Any lasting relationship is based on compromise.” He studied me. “Something which lasts, however, pales next to what is powerful and meaningful, no matter how fleeting.”

“You had your chance to die in my arms, Hannibal. You chose to live.” I dropped my head, unable to look into the heat burning behind the surface coolness of his gaze. “What’s more, you chose to force me to live. You decided to keep me.” I gave him a sideways glance. “Why not try it, the passion I got addicted to?”

“That passion betrayed you. Jack Crawford used it to manipulate and use you again and again.” A glint of amusement sparkled in his dark eye. “One might argue that saving lives is as dangerous as taking them.”

“It’s the other side of the coin. Why not explore it?” I inclined my head towards him. “You can always eat me later.”

He chuckled at this. “Part of you is hoping I will, aren’t you? You’d like me to end it, end your flirtation with death by giving you yours.” He lifted his fingers to my mouth, tracing it. “By being your friend in a way no one else can be.”

I allowed my lips to caress his finger. “You already are my friend in a way no one else is.” 

“And I keep rediscovering you, Will. Again and again.” He dropped his finger. “I may sometimes regret playing your games, but they’re always entertaining.”

“Is that a yes?” I could feel a smile creeping over my mouth, a smile only Hannibal could summon, for all I should know better.

“It’s a maybe.” He smiled back, gazing at my face, lips, forehead, and eyes as if I was a work of art he couldn’t get enough of. Perhaps to Hannibal Lecter, I was. “It depends on the life you wish to save.”

For a moment, I could sense you, watching Hannibal and I through the veil of dreams. I don’t know you, Clarice, but you feel so familar. You hunger to save lives as I do, yet you have an ambition, a desire for advancement I’ve never possessed. Both could get you into trouble.

Right now you’re intent on finding me, saving me. Like Hannibal always was, even when he was about to eat me. 

There’s always been someone between us, binding us together, Hannibal and I. Jack. Abigail. Alana. The Great Red Dragon. Maybe this time it will be you, Clarice. Perhaps in some way you are the future. Maybe you’ll reveal a brighter one than I could ever seen. Just don’t get sucked into the darkness. Never let it claim you.


End file.
